The distributed or network environment of computer processor systems typically comprises a large number of individual nodes, such as workstations, PC's, terminals, host computers, and data storage components, which are tied together across a network. Also typically, the distributed or network systems comprise remotely located clients tied together to utilize common data storage components. The management of the data for efficient storage and retrieval is a critical element of the operation of the network.
One type of network is that employed to provide a backup and archive storage system for remotely located clients. Backup protects the client system data from a system failure or disk crash. The data is typically first moved to disk drives and then migrated to tape as the need for access to the data becomes less immediate. Archive storage is data that won't have a copy in the originating client system. It is archived so that the data may be made available if it is ever needed, for example, for legal requirements. Data is typically archived on tape.
One system designed to store and manage data for remotely located clients is called the ADSTAR Distributed Storage Manager (ADSM) of IBM. In ADSM, a central server is coupled to multiple client platforms and one or more administrators. The server provides archival, backup, retrieval, and other management functions for the server's clients. Should an error situation arise, that message may be provided to the server system administrator as an "event" or an "alert". In server system parlance, an "event" is any message relating to the server system, including those messages, called "alerts", which require attention.
Often, network or distributed systems are hierarchical in nature, having separate servers at local sites reporting to a regional headquarters and coupled to the regional headquarters servers, and having separate servers at the regional sites reporting to an area headquarters and coupled to the area headquarters servers, etc. However, one or more of the servers at an area site may themselves be "local" servers. Thus, if an event at a "local" server is of sufficient importance that it should be reported to the region and/or to the area headquarters, the event may be reported by sending it from the local server to the region server and then to the area server for distribution to receivers at the region and area.
For example, the information systems administrator for a region, an area, or an enterprise may wish to know that a local server is running out of available storage, so that an order for increased storage capacity may be economically coordinated.
It may be possible to make ones of the servers in the system a client for other servers, and the other servers receivers for the client servers. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,892, Cook, has registration procedures for the registration of devices, as clients and as receivers for expected alerts, and configures a map between registered alerts and registered service providers for the distribution of events when they occur. The registration and mapping occurs at a standard initial set up for the system.
Tracking and understanding the events and determining the source and nature of the event can become difficult in a complex enterprise, especially one in which the sites are in different countries having different languages, and the possibility exists that the same event may be reported more than once around the system which may unnecessarily tie up system resources.